You will need to please excuse the horrible, horrible after bathroom pic.

My mother and her mother both had lovely curly hair. My mother had auburn hair...gorgeous. But all of my life, she had it short and curled it old lady style.

I think the before was taken in 2008 or thereabouts....maybe a bit older. My routine back then was using something to control fly away hair in my shampoo. Something for body and volume in my product. Blow dry and style, spray, walk out the door and it was a wreck and flat as a pancake again. I always had a natural wave. I fought it all of my life. I'd style it one way and it would flip the other way. Curling brushes, curling irons, blow dryer and sooooo much product. I had a few perms. Fried my hair a few times. Dealt with damage from the perms and curling irons and I guess hair drying. I have thyroid disease and some other medical issues so it has been challenging to deal with the hair.

I came here in 2008 to try to help my curly haired dd. Her hair was eternally frizzy. She also has thyroid disease. She finally cut it very short. About that time, maybe three years ago, I started going CG. I think because I read it could help hair issues. I did it wrong for a year, I think. Then I read more and have changed my routine. I'm still getting to know it, but am branching out from my original products. My dd has noticed the difference, went modified CG and is growing he hair long again. She had it colored the other day and we did PT and DTs today. I taught her how. She was thrilled with the result!! The girl who colored it blew it dry and she had come home with fried and unhappy hair. She has happy hair now!!

I cannot tell you how much happier I am with my hair now. I know it. It loves protein. It is healthy. Last time I got it cut, the only complaint was that it was a tad dry on the ends due to diffusing. My dh loves my hair. I don't use hairspray anymore. And I don't care who doesn't like it. I like it. And I like it all day.

Ignore the face....just focus on the hair. My health has been a bit eh lately. I think all of the phone photos of me look horrid. Plus bathroom light is ick. I kind of look like a convict. In the summer, my hair is still light on the ends, but it has darkened a bit since the above photo. I never knew I had this nutty hair hiding on my head.

BTW....Ideas on curl pattern appreciated. The fat curl on the bottom left is what my dd has all over her head. Lovely fat spiral ringlets and smaller ones thrown in. People used to ask me if I curled her hair when she was small. As if I had the time!! I was also told NEVER to cut her hair or it would never grow back. Nope. Not true at all!!

So I NEVER had any idea that my hair was curly..I had straight hair as a kid...No one in my family has curly hair...my mothers was so fine and straight...hers didnt even take perms...As i got older my hair somehow became CRAZY and very unruly ...So I always blowdried it...and over the last few years began flat ironing it as well...Last year I wanted my hair to be healthier so I stopped dying it blonde..That helped a lot...but wanted to try to get away from using heat all the time...So I got lazy one day..and noticed i had a slight wave...and thought "i could wear my hair like this some days"...so i went out to get some curl products for my hair...And started to research what products were the best...and then I came across this site...so decided to give CG a try...went CG 8/12...So here is my journey...so the first pic is before CG..2nd pic is 2 weeks in...3rd is 1 month...and last two are yesterday...

So I NEVER had any idea that my hair was curly..I had straight hair as a kid...No one in my family has curly hair...my mothers was so fine and straight...hers didnt even take perms...As i got older my hair somehow became CRAZY and very unruly ...So I always blowdried it...and over the last few years began flat ironing it as well...Last year I wanted my hair to be healthier so I stopped dying it blonde..That helped a lot...but wanted to try to get away from using heat all the time...So I got lazy one day..and noticed i had a slight wave...and thought "i could wear my hair like this some days"...so i went out to get some curl products for my hair...And started to research what products were the best...and then I came across this site...so decided to give CG a try...went CG 8/12...So here is my journey...so the first pic is before CG..2nd pic is 2 weeks in...3rd is 1 month...and last two are yesterday...

looking through this thread I can say that CG really does work wonders. Beautiful hair Ladies!

My hair used to be cherub-like curly when I was a small child, then started getting thicker and darker and went almost straight. And I was considered a straight-haired girl by everyone in the family (half of family with straight hair and half with 3bish strong curl). I really wanted curly hair and wished mine started getting curly like my cousin's hair when she hit puberty but no... My hair was only unruly/crooked and I always needed a good haircut and a blowdryer with a brush (or the 2in1). Then one day at work a friend said that my hair looked neither straight nor curly (and it was on a day that I did straighten my hair, but it was heavily layered and took on its own life ) and I figured I could try to make it wavy and got very surprised after the next wash of course I did everything wrong, blowdried and didn't use heat protectant + used a styler with alcohol in it so my hair was candyfloss-like but I still quite enjoyed waves.
Then I decided to go blonde... not a good idea, my hair turned into a terrible mess, I went back to having it straight.
At some point got tired of the damage started looking for ways to make it healthier and came across CG info. I've been modified CG for about 1.5 years now and can definitely say it (plus going back to a shade close to my natural haircolor) did save my hair.
Currently my hair usually looks like in the one before last photo (I usually SOTC after sleeping with crunchy hair), last photo is a recent blast of curliness (SOTC after styling the same day), wonder i fit was a one-timer

Uploaded are:
my pre CG photos (1 and 2),
after a few months and change of colour (3),
after henna (4)
and after a recent wash (5)

Oh my goodness, Katie, your hair got so much curlier. It's incredible. it must've been that it was so used to being blow dryed and stretched out that it fell into the habit. Then you resuscitated it. Good on you! I only wish I could fast forward the clock to a year from now and see mine.

I've been lurking for too long! Time to come out. I would like to give a big thanks to all of you who post and are SO helpful to newbies. I learned a ton, especially about protein...now that I am not using it, my hair and scalp are much, much happier!!! It has made ALL the difference for me. Thank you again!!

So, here are my pics! The first is pre-CG a few months ago, then pre-CG on Saturday and the rest are from this morning (Tuesday). I hope my hair will continue to improve as I'm seeing in these other photos (you all look amazing!!)

i've been lurking for too long! Time to come out. I would like to give a big thanks to all of you who post and are so helpful to newbies. I learned a ton, especially about protein...now that i am not using it, my hair and scalp are much, much happier!!! It has made all the difference for me. Thank you again!!

So, here are my pics! The first is pre-cg a few months ago, then pre-cg on saturday and the rest are from this morning (tuesday). I hope my hair will continue to improve as i'm seeing in these other photos (you all look amazing!!)

A particularly bad pre-cg day! (I was pregnant, too, and my hair had started growing in really dark! It wasn't as bad as it looks in this picture, but you can really see it here! (It was raining, too, so the top of my head was wet!)

Just a few months in... maybe 6mos? (not fully dry, so I had not SOTC yet.)

I think this was about a year?

Fairly recent - close to 2 years of CG, I think. (excuse the lack of make-up - LOL!)

So it's been about three months now. Luckily I took a photo at the beginning so I can see the change.. Didn't know it was this huge until I took a new photo today and compared it to old one. This really is working! I have to admit I straightened my hair twice but it only helped me to notice that curly hair looks better on me..
Anyway here is a new photo of my progress. Don't mind the weird color on the first one.. It's due to a different camera, my plant lamp and it's weird colored light.

The first picture is about three years ago. That was how I had my hair for years. Years.
The second was today after a shower with no product in it.
And I'm not on the CG method, just the hey it's not frizzy method. I don't use sulfates that's about it I think. I almost did CG today. Maybe next time.

Wow, there are some beautiful curls on this thread. I'm not crazy about my picture but I am happy with my hair. I just got a Deva cut a couple of weeks ago and this past week I tried using the method my hairdresser showed me for styling it. I put the product into wet hair out of the shower and blotted with a synthetic chamois. Before picture is in grey top, after pic in black.

i honestly didn't think my hair had changed that much since going cg last year. but, yup, it's become curlier and fuller. it works! sorry if the pics are super huge, i can't figure out how to resize them.